Five Public Fleet Priorities Heading Into 2027

As we look toward 2027, public fleet managers continue to face familiar challenges: aging vehicles and equipment, inadequate replacement funding, technician shortages, rising costs and increasing expectations from the departments we serve.

These challenges are not new, but the environment in which we manage them continues to change. We have more information available, vehicle technology is advancing and the cost of doing business continues to increase. At the same time, budgets are under greater scrutiny. Executive leadership expects us to support funding requests with facts, measurable results and a clear explanation of the operational impact.

Through my involvement with the 100 Best Fleets, my clients and conversations with fleet professionals across the country, I see many organizations addressing the same issues. Their resources and operating environments may differ, but the fundamentals of successful fleet management remain consistent. In my view, five priorities deserve particular attention in 2027.

1. Asset lifecycle management and replacement funding

For me, asset lifecycle management and replacement funding remain at the top of the list.

Deferring replacement may reduce expenditures in the current budget, but it often increases costs in subsequent years. Fleet absorbs higher maintenance and repair expenses while user departments experience more downtime, reduced reliability and lost productivity. Most of us have managed vehicles and equipment that remained in service well beyond their economical replacement point because funding was unavailable. There comes a time when extending service life no longer makes economic or operational sense.

Age and mileage are still important, but they shouldn’t be the only factors determining replacement. Maintenance and repair costs, downtime, utilization, mission criticality, parts availability, residual value and replacement cost all need to be part of the decision. Public fleets need to develop a realistic multiyear replacement plan. I prefer looking at least five years ahead, recognizing that projections for later years are subject to change. That gives leadership an opportunity to anticipate future financial requirements rather than discovering a funding problem after it becomes critical.

We also need to improve how we justify replacement funding. We routinely tell leadership what a new vehicle will cost, but it is equally important to demonstrate the cost of retaining the existing asset, including repairs, downtime, lost productivity and risk.

The question shouldn’t only be, ”What will it cost to replace this asset?” We also need to answer, ”What will it cost if we don’t?”

2. Utilization, right-sizing and fleet optimization

Fleet utilization has been an important management responsibility for decades. With the information available today, we should have a clear understanding of how our vehicles and equipment are being utilized.

That doesn’t mean usage (miles or hours) alone tells the story. A specialty vehicle may see very little use during the year and still be critical to the organization’s mission. Vehicles assigned to a specific plant, facility or park, what I call “yard dogs,” are prime examples. Other examples include emergency response vehicles, generators, construction equipment and seasonal assets.

Utilization alone should not determine whether an asset is needed. We need to establish whether the asset is necessary to accomplish the mission and whether it is the most appropriate vehicle or piece of equipment for that assignment. Fleet managers should be looking at mileage, hours, days used, seasonal demand, mission requirements and availability. Telematics and fleet management information system (FMIS) data can help identify vehicles that are underutilized or assigned incorrectly.

Once identified, we have options. Can the vehicle be reassigned? Can it be shared? Can an older vehicle be cascaded into a lower-use assignment? Would a motor pool asset work? Does the department need a pickup truck, or would a smaller and less expensive vehicle accomplish the same mission?

Right-sizing isn’t about seeing how many vehicles we can eliminate. It’s about having the right number and the right type of vehicles to accomplish the mission.

3. Workforce development and succession planning

Fleet success still depends on having qualified people to maintain and manage the operation.

For many public fleets, finding qualified technicians remains difficult. Competition from the private sector is fierce and isn’t going away. The technicians we hire also need an increasingly sophisticated skill set.

What about the people we already have? Workforce development cannot be limited to recruiting new employees. How many employees are eligible to retire in the next three to five years? Who possesses knowledge that nobody else in the organization has? Who is being prepared for the next supervisory or management position? How much training are we providing? Are we providing employees with opportunities to develop and advance?

When a 25- or 30-year employee retires, we don’t just lose an employee. We lose decades of institutional knowledge. Succession planning needs to occur long before that retirement announcement lands on the manager’s desk. Mentoring, cross-training, apprenticeships, documented procedures and leadership development should all be part of the workforce strategy.

Technical training is imperative and should be supported by an ongoing training plan. Today’s technicians are working with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), telematics, complex electronics, high-voltage systems and diagnostic technology that didn’t exist in many shops 10 or 15 years ago. Training costs money. But so does having vehicles sitting in the shop because nobody knows how to diagnose or repair them.

Think of it this way: “Technician capacity is fleet capacity.”

4. Data integration, AI and performance management

Fleet managers don’t necessarily need more reports. We need timely, accurate information that supports better decisions.

We collect an incredible amount of data. FMIS, fuel systems, telematics, finance, parts, risk management and human resources all contain pieces of the fleet story. Unfortunately, those pieces don’t always talk to each other. One of the biggest opportunities for public fleets in 2027 is connecting that information and using it to make better decisions.

That starts with determining what we really need to measure. Availability, preventive maintenance compliance, maintenance cost, downtime, technician productivity, utilization, fuel consumption, replacement backlog and safety performance are all important. A dashboard containing dozens of measures has limited value if the information is not used. I would rather see eight to 12 meaningful performance indicators that fleet personnel and executive leadership understand and use to guide decisions.

Performance measurements should do more than tell us how we are doing. They should identify where improvements are needed, establish accountability and measure whether our initiatives are producing the intended results.

Artificial intelligence has certainly become a bigger part of this discussion. AI can help analyze large amounts of information, recognize trends, identify unusual costs and potentially predict problems before they occur. We should approach AI with the same discipline we apply to other fleet technologies. AI, telematics and FMIS are tools. Their value comes from how effectively we use the information to improve performance, control costs and support the mission.

Data security and governance also belong in this conversation. As vehicles and fleet systems become increasingly connected, fleet managers need to work closely with their IT departments to understand what information is being collected, where it is stored and how it is protected.

The objective for 2027 should be simple: Turn fleet data into fleet decisions.

5. Practical fleet technology and energy transition

The key word in this priority is practical.

Fleet managers have always dealt with changing technology. What’s different today is how quickly those technologies have arrived and how much attention they receive. Electric vehicles, hybrids, alternative fuels, ADAS, cameras, telematics and increasingly connected vehicles all have the potential to improve fleet operations. But not every technology fits every application.

Our responsibility as fleet professionals is to determine where it makes sense. Before introducing a new vehicle technology, we should understand the duty cycle, daily mileage, operating hours, payload, towing requirements, climate, charging or fueling infrastructure, downtime requirements and total cost of ownership.

An EV may be an excellent solution for one application and completely wrong for another. A hybrid may make more sense somewhere else. And there are still many applications where a conventional vehicle remains the best operational and financial choice. That is not resistance to change. It is responsible fleet management.

The same principle applies beyond vehicle propulsion. Cameras, telematics, ADAS and other technologies should solve an identified problem or improve an existing process. Start with the operational need. Then determine whether the technology provides the solution.

Adopt technology because it improves the mission, not because it’s the newest technology.

Looking ahead

These five priorities don’t operate independently. Replacement affects maintenance costs and availability. Utilization affects replacement requirements. Workforce capacity affects maintenance performance. Data should influence decisions in every one of these areas. And remember, technology only works when we have the people, infrastructure and processes necessary to support it.

One responsibility connects all five priorities: fleet managers must clearly communicate the value and needs of their operations. We can’t assume executive leadership understands why a replacement program needs additional funding, why technician vacancies matter, why an underutilized asset should be reassigned or why a particular technology investment makes sense. We have to show them.

That means translating fleet information into something the organization understands: dollars, downtime, productivity, risk and the ability of departments to serve their customers and communities.

Good fleet management has never been just about vehicles and equipment. In 2027, that will become even more apparent. Our job is increasingly about managing information, investment, people, risk and organizational expectations.

When we manage those responsibilities effectively, we put our organizations in a much stronger position to deliver reliable, cost-effective fleet services.